Actress Lainie Kazan Turns the Spotlight on DVTs

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He said that while passengers on long-haul flights need to be aware that sitting still for hours can boost their DVT risk (so-called "economy-class syndrome"), flying isn't a big risk factor overall. "Considering the number of these long flights that people are traveling on nowadays, it's something that we don't see very often," he said.

But in-flight DVTs can happen, as Jody Rounds, a 35-year-old ICU nurse from Cranford, N.J., knows all too well.

Seven years ago, she was midway through a flight from Honolulu to Newark, N.J., when her calf cramped up.

"I thought it was a Charley-horse, so I decided to do a massage -- and I ended up massaging that DVT right up into my lungs," she said. Because of her age and her high level of fitness, Rounds didn't really consider that she could have a DVT. But after getting off the plane, Rounds said she felt short of breath and, just to be sure, checked with doctors at Overlook Hospital, the Summitt, N.J., hospital where she works.

"I went to the ER, and that's where they figured out what had happened to me," Rounds said. She spent the next 5 days as an inpatient, as physicians used blood thinners to dissolve the dangerous clot in her lungs.

As Rounds' story shows, "Age does not make a difference" when it comes to DVT risk, Napolitano stressed. However, a previous history of a clot does, so both Rounds and Kazan must remain vigilant to reduce their risk or a future episode.

DVTs can be tough to spot, because their symptoms can feel like so many other ailments, Napolitano said.

"Pain and swelling [in the leg] is definitely a warning sign, possibly cramp," he said. "But you can also have a fairly massive blood clot without any warning signs at all."

With pulmonary thrombosis, "the first symptom is chest pain and shortness of breath," the expert said. "That's when it's traveled to the lung, and that's what the real killer is for these blood clots."

Because of their heightened risk for DVTs and other clots, most patients recovering from orthopedic or other surgeries now routinely receive coumadin or another blood thinner, Napolitano added. "It's pretty much standard," he said.